When you follow a vegan diet, you no longer eat any animal products. Not only does this mean no more meat, poultry, and fish, but you don’t have eggs, milk, dairy, butter, or even honey.
On a vegan diet, you will eat foods such as grains, legumes, beans, fruits and vegetables, and the dishes that you can make when you combine those food items. There are also familiar foods that are made with meat substitute products such as hot dogs, cheese, ice cream, non-dairy yogurt, mayonnaise, and burgers.
Food items such as non-dairy milk substitutes such as tofu and soy milk are also associated with veganism. However, this does not mean that their diet is only limited to the foods mentioned above. Non-dairy milk choices may include rice coconut, and/or almond milk and vegans also eat everyday food items like spaghetti, green salad, peanut butter, and chips and salsa.
The vegan diet poses a lot of health benefits and helps you to lose weight at the same time. Whenever you switch to a new eating lifestyle, it is best to prepare ahead of time and ensure you have everything you need to get started. That is the beauty of meal planning.
The following information will give you what you need to get started with meal planning on a vegan diet, from helping you to understand what foods create well-balanced meals, to giving you some easy meal ideas to start with.
1 – Benefits of a Vegan Lifestyle
Following a vegan diet is one of the healthiest lifestyles you can live. Before looking at some meal planning options, let’s take a look at the benefits of following this type of diet. When vegans only eat high quality, organic and healthy foods, they are more likely to be high in some vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals, and fiber while being low in B12, saturated fats and cholesterol.
As a vegan, you will be able to reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, ischemic heart disease, hypertension, stroke, obesity, and prostate and colon cancer. A vegan diet is also suitable for anyone of all ages, including pregnant and lactating women. Vegan diets should be carefully planned, and therefore, it is advisable if you seek the professional help of a nutritionist.
Effects on the Environment and Resources
By following a vegan lifestyle, you will be able to help reduce air pollution as well as put less stress on natural resources since it requires less fossil fuel, water, and land to provide the foods that vegans consume. The world’s population is expected to reach nine billion by 2050, so a pervasive movement towards following a vegan lifestyle is encouraged since this is the most efficient way to help with our environment and for our survival.
2 – Getting Started with Meal Planning
Meal planning is the process of planning out what meals you will eat for the coming days or weeks, grocery shopping, and making sure you have everything ready. Some people also add in meal prepping, but that is optional. The most important thing is that you know what you will be eating for all meals and snacks, so that you are fully prepared. Here are some tips for getting started with meal planning:
Start with Foods You Already Enjoy
If you are new to a vegan way of eating, it helps to think of foods you already enjoy that are vegan friendly. This helps to make an easier transition into following this type of diet. This might be making fruit smoothies in the morning with almond milk and skipping the yogurt, or still enjoying your favorite vegan-friendly bread as avocado toast. Sometimes, it will be a full meal, other times a snack or a side dish.
Make a Detailed Meal Plan
Once you have started adding some foods to your meal plan that you enjoy, you can make it more detailed. Try to list every meal and snack for the first week. Keep in mind how many people you are feeding, and any days when you might not be home to cook so you can prepare for those situations as well.
Write down what meals might work as leftovers, and don’t forget to use ingredients you already have at home.
Work on Your Grocery List
Once the meal plan is done, it is easy to go down the list and add anything you don’t have to a grocery list. This is imperative before going to the store so you don’t forget anything. Be as detailed as you can, including quantities of certain ingredients. If you forget or run out of something in a few days, it is harder to avoid those non-vegan foods
you might still have around the house.
3 – Guidelines for Vegan Weight Loss
Now that you understand what is involved with meal planning, you can learn about how to eat a vegan diet with these tips and lose weight.
Schedule Your Meals
Eating your meals at the same time each day is essential in improving your metabolism and promoting healthy eating habits. You should have a large meal for breakfast, medium for lunch, and small meals during dinner. Try exercising forty-five minutes before you eat to help feed and repair your used muscles.
Don’t eat two hours before bedtime. Eating calories close to bedtime can increase your weight, and you will probably have trouble sleeping.
Portion Your Meals
Portioning your meals will also help with your diet. Below are examples of single servings of different foods in each group for vegan:
Grains
1 slice bread
1 cup cold cereal
½ cup cooked rice, cereal, or pasta
Vegetables
1 cup vegetables
½ cup cooked or raw vegetables
¾ cup vegetable juice
Fruits
1 medium piece whole fruit
½ cup canned, chopped, or cooked fruit
¾ cup no-sugar-added fruit juice
“Dairy”
1 cup non-dairy milk
“Meat” and Beans
½ cup cooked dry beans
½ cup tofu
2 ½ ounces soy burger
2 Tbs peanut butter
1/3 cup nuts
Fats
1 Tbs oil
1 Tbs butter
1 ounce nuts
2 Tbs nut butter
Add Your Protein
The recommended intake of protein is 5.5 ounces per day or 0.41g per pound of body weight. For examples, a 150lbs woman should consume 61 grams of protein each day. Likewise, a 175lbs man should consume 72g each day. Since there are around 4 calories per gram of protein, the woman would need 244 calories of protein and the man 288 calories of protein daily.
You can refer to the list of food below for serving size and grams of protein.
1 cup of tempeh – 31g
1 cup of soybeans – 29g
3 ounces seitan – 21g
1 cup lentils – 18g
1 cup beans (chickpeas, black and kidney beans) – 15g
4 ounces tofu – 11g
1 cup quinoa – 8g
½ textured vegetable protein – 8g
2Tbs peanut butter – 8g
Healthy Drinks Have Calories, Too
Before you dive into your usual smoothie or freshly squeezed juice, read the labels carefully or know how many calories it has. Merely drinking plain water is a safe bet. It’s hydrating and has zero calories. You can add squeezed lemon, lime, or both if you want some flavor. You can also try herbal teas and sparkling waters.
Avoid Binging
A vegan diet also urges you to eat in moderation. The average American consumes 22.2 tsp of sugar per day. If you’re looking for a healthy vegan dessert that is low in calories without sugar and fats, try fresh fruits or eating a small piece of vegan dessert. You can save the rest to eat in the following days.
4 – Vegan Meal Ideas
One of the difficult things for you to do when you start your vegan diet is probably shifting from your usual diet of meat and sweets to a lifestyle full of limited or zero processed food, and fresh and organic food. It may seem tiresome at first when you start planning your meals, but this is important when you want to lose the extra weight you’re carrying.
Planning your meals is not only healthy, but it can also make your life easier. When you’re shifting to a vegan diet, you don’t have to dive into it immediately. You can just start easing your way into the diet and letting go of the food that you won’t need. Beginners should start with their favorite food and build their meal plan from there.
Hummus
You can skip wasting money and make your own hummus at home. A basic hummus would include chickpeas, lemon juice, tahini, garlic, and olive oil. You can add your favorite spices as well as a variety of veggies. The hummus can last up to five days in the refrigerator, and you can eat it with any meal like on a sandwich, toast, or dips for veggies and chips.
You can try experimenting with different types of combinations each week to see which recipe works for you.
Steam or Roast Your Vegetables
You can buy your vegetables frozen especially if you’re saving money. Vegetables are going to be an everyday staple in your vegan meals. Roast and steam large quantities of cauliflower, broccoli, sweet and rustic potato, and zucchini. This will make it easier and less time-consuming. Make sure to rinse the vegetables before you roast or steam
them.
Kale Burgers
Kale patties are being used as a substitute meat for the burgers. So if you’re craving a burger, this is the healthy alternative. Just sauté together the olive oil, garlic, red pepper flakes, salt, and kale for seven minutes. After sautéing, mix this with the mashed white beans and oats. When it holds, you can form these into four patties.
Bake these patties for thirty minutes but flip it only once. You can serve this immediately or refrigerate in an airtight container. The kale patties can last up to five days or six months if you freeze it.
Vegetarian Chili
As a beginner, you can start with the basic three-been bowl. You can move on to other vegetarian chili combinations once you get the hang of it. You can make a batch of vegetarian chili with eight servings.
You will need one can of kidney and pinto beans, two cans of black beans, vegetable broth, two cans of diced tomatoes, red onions. Season this with salt and chili powder to taste. You can reheat your vegetarian chili for dinner, or you can pair this with corn chips.
Baked Oatmeal Muffins
If you’re in a hurry and you don’t have time for a lavish breakfast meal, then these oatmeal muffins will be able to satisfy your taste buds. There are six recipes that you can choose from such as peanut butter banana, apple cinnamon, and sweet carrot potato. This will only take you about 20 to 25 minutes to bake and you can either eat
this for meals or snacks.
There are still a variety of ways for you to plan your meal and achieve weight loss. Make sure you are serious about going through with the vegan diet before you go through with it. Consult a professional so you can go about it correctly.
There are people who go on the vegan diet for weight loss. Although there are people who opt for the vegan lifestyle because of ethical reasons towards animals, other people choose the vegan lifestyle for the diet itself and its various health benefits.
Going on the vegan diet will help reduce your calorie intake, and you may end up with replacing the usual food you eat with high-fiber alternatives that have low calories.
Since vegans avoid any food items that are derived from animals, it is important to supplement their diet with vitamin-fortified cereals, vitamins, and fortified soy products to avoid deficiencies.
Some individuals have trouble sticking to the vegan diet and gain all that weight that they lost during the diet. This could be dangerous for the health since it could lead to heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
Before you start with the vegan diet, make sure that you will be fully committed to it, and you should focus on food items rich in nutrients instead of empty calories.
